What can I say about the legacy of Dragon Ball Z. With its latest film, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F, series creator Akira Toriyama helps to supervise this latest installment with the return of the vile, and evil Freeza. Now, what differentiates the return of this antagonist into the DBZ world from any other rendition of Freeza’s schemes? Can when expect a lackadaisical approach to a rehashed franchise? On the contrary, it separates itself very nicely from a recycled use of characters. How have these heroes and villains evolved within a showdown of classic nostalgia?
For starters, Gohan who from my perspective was always the “chosen one” of Goku’s offspring, is actually a former shell of his martial arts ability. He as toned down his training for a more subtle lifestyle, while Krillin (Kuririn in Japanese) now uses his ability as a police officer. Android 18 is reduced to a stereotypical house wife, while Piccolo is a mere baby-sitter. By all means, this is not an insult whatsoever. In fact, it dwells on a simplistic way of life that these warriors lead during an aftermath of peace and prosperity. While we get minor references to characters like Trunks, or shrines of Hercule, the main theme here is the way in which world weary, and battle hardened characters dust off the lint of the mortal world, and stir their way back onto to the battlefield.

In this story, while a member of the Freeza Force (Sorbet ) summons the Dragon Shenlong to bring Freeza back from the depths of hell, Freez sees the poetry of “Earths Dragon bringing him back from Earths hell.” On his path of vengeance, Freeza decides to enhance his strength to a level of 1.3 million within a matter of months without training. Simultaneously, our legendary duo of Goku and Vegeta train with Whis who is the assistant of The God of Destruction Beerus. While comedic elements are no doubt incorporated, we get a lesson from this training session that Goku and Vegeta must heighten their skills by “doing before thinking” thereby pushing their martial arts faster than any level they have harnessed. Remember, The Japanese still have a traditional aspect of the Martial Arts, by which the anti-hero persona of vegeta, and child like innocence of Goku must still learn how to work together. Remember, Akira Toriyama based DBZ on the classical Journey to the West that instills Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology, along with Taoist and Buddhist philosophy.

During the epic showdown, I was hoping that the nostalgic nemesis arc would not be disappointing. Once again I was proven wrong, when characters such as Tien, Piccolo, Krillan, Gohan, master Roshi, and the intergalic guardian Jaco take on the Freeza force with dormant power that these members have been dying to unleash. While the climax hits us with Goku facing Freeza, Goku is enhanced with the “blue” Super Saiyan God form, and Freeza powers up as “Freeza Gold.” I think this rendition gives us a Jedi and Sith formation, where Goku and Vegeta utilized their blood and sweat to establish this stage of power, while Freeza took the easy way by summoning power that was already in him. As Goku, Vegeta, and Freeza charge into battle of God like proportions, we see that Freeza did not give his body time to adjust to such power, while Goku and Vegeta used time to control their power. One makes me wonder, what do we learn as fans from this match up? Will Vegeta pledge his old “loyalty” to Freeza out of competition with Goku? Will Goku, as naive as he is, ever mature beyond his child like state, and did Freeza bring back something from hell that the heroes do not expect? One thing is for sure, Dragon Ball Z depicts the heroes journey, where tales come full circle. Yet, while things come full circle, what new chapters open up for the Dragon Ball Z universe. Perhaps this will branch off into the new Dragon Ball Z: Super series, where the defeat of Majon Boo brings us to another challenge, and how the almighty Beerus plays a part as well. After all, after fighting demons, aliens, and cyborgs, how do God like creatures factor into such a scenario. After all, with what “happens” to earth in Resurrection F, what can possibly happen next?…..